The Miami Dolphins are trying to make two things true at once: that their season is getting better by the week, and that the quarterback insurance they bought in Malik Willis was worth the trouble.
That balancing act got harder Monday, when the team learned star running back De’Von Achane tore his ACL in the Week 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Achane’s injury removes the player who had been central to Miami’s offense, and it lands at the exact moment the Dolphins were already trying to prove that their early-season progress was real.
The on-field case for optimism is thin, but it exists. One source describing Miami’s start said the Dolphins have improved from game to game through three weeks, even while the record sits at 0-3. Another put it more bluntly: “Miami’s offense has only been able to muster one touchdown per game so far, but behind quarterback Malik Willis, the improvements stand out.”
That is the tension now. The Dolphins are not being asked to pretend the offense has been fixed. They are being asked to decide whether incremental progress matters when the scoreboard still says one touchdown per game and the roster just lost its most important backfield piece.
Willis is the other half of that calculation. Miami landed on him as its new QB1, and he was described as “easily the most coveted field general on the open market.” His three-year contract is structured to give him at least a two-season runway to prove himself, which matters because the Dolphins are not treating this as a one-week patch. They are treating it as a low-risk bet with time attached.
The broader quarterback market helps explain why. Almost a quarter of the league is already on at least its backup quarterback, a reminder that Miami is not alone in living with uncertainty under center. In that context, the Dolphins’ decision to commit to Willis looks less like a desperate swing and more like a measured response to a league where stability at quarterback is already in short supply.
That does not mean Willis has solved everything. Through three starts, his passer rating is 74.1, and the offense’s production remains limited. But the reporting around him is still framed as a player with room to grow. One evaluation said, “Has a lot of room for growth as an all-around QB but the talent is there and this year of reps will give the front office great insight.” Another simply added, “I really like Malik Willis.”
Miami’s remaining path is part of the story, too. The Dolphins’ schedule is described as one of the toughest on paper, which makes every small step forward more important and every setback more expensive. A Week 3 loss to the Chiefs by 14 points was even viewed by some as a moral victory, a sign that the Dolphins were at least competitive against a strong opponent.
But competitive is not the same as safe. The Dolphins were already being discussed as essentially a lock for a top-five pick next year, and Achane’s season-ending injury only sharpens the pressure on the offense to find answers elsewhere. If the team keeps improving, the remaining schedule could still offer a few chances to turn that into something tangible. If it does not, the runway for evaluation remains, but the margin for optimism shrinks.
That is why the 2027 quarterback class keeps coming up in the background. It is expected to be exceptionally deep, which gives Miami another layer of contingency if Willis does not become more than a bridge. The structure is there for patience, and the schedule is there to test whether that patience has any practical value.
For now, the Dolphins are living in the space between those two ideas: a team that says it is getting better, and a team whose best-case planning still depends on what happens next.